The library is in another quarter, in a room furnished with shutters, which like the door are very rarely opened. The printed books are mostly in Greek and very old; the library being rich in Incunabula, but possessing very few modern books, except some copies of the Scriptures from the British and Foreign Bible Society, presented by a missionary. These rest here now in the same undisturbed quiet, which the Aldine Septuagint has enjoyed for centuries. I made an estimate of the whole number of books by counting the shelves and the volumes on two or three; and found it in this way to be about fifteen hundred volumes. Burckhardt makes fifteen hundred Greek books, and seven hundred Arabic manuscripts; which latter he examined without finding any thing of much value.' The library is utterly neglected; private reading forming no part of the duties or pleasures of these worthy fathers. With evident reluctance, the Superior conducted us to the tomb, or rather charnel-house of the convent, situated near the middle of the garden. We inferred from his conversation, that travellers who have visited it, have sometimes wounded the feelings of the monks by their remarks, or by exhibiting disgust or horror at the ghastly spectacle. The building is half subterranean, consisting of two rooms or vaults; one containing the bones of priests and the other those of lay monks. The dead bodies are first laid for two or three years on iron grates in another vault; and then the skeletons are broken up and removed to these chambers. Here the bones are laid together in regular piles, the arms in one, the legs in another, the ribs in a third, etc. The bones of priests and laymen are piled separately in the different vaults; except the skulls, which are thrown promiscuously together. The 1) Page 551. bones of the Archbishops, whose bodies are always brought hither with their clothing and property after death, are kept separately in small wooden boxes. The skeleton of one saint was pointed out to us; and also those of two ascetics, who are said to have lived as hermits in the adjacent mountain, wearing shirts of mail next the body and binding themselves together by the leg with an iron chain, parts of which are here preserved. This is emphatically the house of Death, where he has now sat enthroned for centuries, receiving every year new victims, until the chambers are nearly filled up with this assembly of the dead. It must be a solemn feeling, one would think, with which the monks repair to this spot, and look upon these relics of mortality, their predecessors, their brethren, their daily companions, all present here before them in their last earthly shape of ghastliness; with whom too their own bones must so soon in like manner be mingled piecemeal, and be gazed upon perhaps like them by strangers from a distant world. I know of no place where the living and the dead come in closer contact with each other; or where the dread summons to prepare for death, rises with a stronger power before the mind. Yet the monks seemed to regard the whole as an every-day matter, to which their minds have become indifferent from long habit, if not from levity. There was a stillness in their manner, but no solemnity. In the afternoon we were left undisturbed to the enjoyment of our own thoughts, and our own more private exercises of devotion. Thus passed to us the Christian Sabbath amid this stern sublimity of nature, where the Jewish Sabbath was of old proclaimed to 1) As Burckhardt heard the story, these were two "Indian princes;" p. 564. Monconys in 1647 has it," two sons of a king of Ethiopia," I. p. 235; and Neitz schitz in 1634, "two brothers, sons Israel. We were here in the midst of one of the oldest monastic communities on earth; where however all we saw and heard tended only to confirm the melancholy truth, that through the burden of human infirmity, even the holiest and most spirit-stirring scenes soon lose by habit their power to elevate and calm the soul. The Prior returned to us in the evening, as we sat at tea, and accepted the cup we proffered him, on condition that it should be without milk; it being now the fast of Lent, during which the tasting of every animal substance is strictly avoided. A tea-spoon which had been dipped in milk, was sent out to be washed for his use; but in order to be on the safe side, he chose even then to stir his tea with the handle of the spoon. Monday, March 26th. Our plan had been laid to devote this and the following day to the ascent of Jebel Mûsa and St. Catharine; and the Superior had taken us into such favour, as to announce his intention of accompanying us at least for the first day. This, he said, was an honour he had never shown to any traveller, except a French Archbishop; whose name and title however we found in the Album as a Roman Catholic Bishop in partibus from Syria. Nor was this civility on the part of the Superior perhaps quite so'disinterested, as he was willing to have it appear; for it came out, that he wished to take along two younger monks, new comers, in order to make them ac quainted with the holy places, so that they might hereafter accompany travellers and pilgrims as guides; there being at present only one monk besides the Prior who knew them all, and he old and infirm. It was arranged that we should to-day visit Jebel Mûsa and 1) The Prior forgot, it seems, that he had accompanied Schubert and his party in like manner to the summit of the mountain the year before; see Schubert's Reise, II. p. 312. the more northern brow of Horeb; sleep at the convent el-Arba'în; and thence ascend St. Catharine tomorrow. Accordingly, the provisions and other things for the night were sent round through the valley to el-Arba'în, while we took with us over the mountain only such articles as were necessary for the day. We made in all a larger party than was desirable; ourselves and servants, the Superior with the two noviciates and pilgrim who had passed us on the way, (the two former, it seemed, being the persons to be initiated as future guides,) and two Arabs of the Jebelîyeh, serfs of the convent, who carried the articles we took with us. The convent has the monopoly of providing guides and attendants for all persons visiting the sacred places; and employs for this purpose its own serfs, paying them a trifle in grain or bread, and charging to travellers a much higher rate. There are two regular Ghafirs for travellers, or guides general; one an old man, 'Aîd, who was with us only today, and the other Muhammed, quite a youth. Several Arab children also followed us up the mountain, with no other motive than to get a bit of bread for their pains. We had risen early in order to set off in good season; but the variety of preparation and some dilatoriness on the part of the Superior, delayed us until a late hour. We at length issued from the N. W. entrance of the garden at 7 o'clock, and turning to the left, passed along above and back of the convent. The route ascends through a ravine on the South of the convent, running up obliquely through the perpendicular wall of the mountain; and the course from the convent almost to the head of this ravine is due South. The path leads for some time obliquely across the debris; and where it begins to grow steep, has been in part loosely laid with large stones, like a Swiss moun tain-road; which stones serve too as a sort of steps. In some places likewise there are more regular steps, but merely of rough stones in their natural state. It is usually reported that there were once regular steps all the way to the summit; but this, like so many other stories, would seem to be only an exaggeration of travellers. At least every appearance at present testifies to the contrary. In many parts steps would be unnecessary; and then there is no trace of them. In other places where they are most regular, some are six inches high and others nearly or quite two feet. Hence, any attempt to estimate the height of the mountain from the pretended number of the steps, as has been done by Shaw and others, can only be futile. After twenty-five minutes we rested at a fine cold spring under an impending rock; the water of which is said to be carried down to the convent by an aqueduct. It is called Ma'yan el-Jebel, the Mountainspring. At 8h 25' we reached a small rude chapel, still in the ravine, dedicated to the Virgin of the Ikonomos. Here the monks lighted tapers and burnt incense, as they did in all the chapels to which we came afterwards. The Superior, being sixty-five years of age and somewhat heavy, had to rest often; and this made our progress slow. Here and at all the subsequent holy places, while we rested, he related the legend attached to each spot. The story belonging to this chapel was as follows: In former days, he said, the monks were so annoyed with fleas, and had so few pilgrims, that they determined to abandon the convent. They all went in procession to make their last visit to the holy places of the mountain; and when near the top, the Virgin suddenly appeared to them, bidding them not to depart, for pilgrims should never fail, fleas should disappear, and the plague should never visit them. At the |